Transfer Second Site to a New PC

This page describes the steps necessary to transfer Second Site from one computer to another. Follow these steps if you get a new PC, or you want to use Second Site on your laptop PC but it is currently installed on your desktop PC. See the FAQ for usage restrictions related to using Second Site on multiple PCs.

Please read all the instructions before you start.

These instructions refer to an old PC and a new PC. The old PC is where Second Site is installed now, and the new PC is where you want to install it next. The actual age of the PCs doesn't matter.

You cannot move TMG or Second Site by copying the program files that are installed on your old PC. You must use the TMG and Second Site install programs to install them on the new PC.

Prerequisites

To perform the following steps, you may need to download files from the web and/or transfer files from one PC to another. To download files, you will need an Internet connection and browser program. If the new PC does not have an Internet connection, you'll have to download to a PC with an Internet connection and transfer files from that PC to the new PC.

You can transfer files between PCs several ways. A straight-forward method is to copy files via a USB flash drive (AKA "thumb drive"). If the two PCs are on the same local area network, you can move files over that network.

Steps

Install TMG on the new PC first if it is not there already. You can download the install program for the trial version of TMG, install it, and then enter your TMG license information to unlock the full program. Terry Reigel's TMG Tips site has links to the last TMG v9 and TMG v8 installers.

Use a TMG backup file to move your TMG project from the old PC to the new PC. You must copy the backup file to the new PC and then use the TMG Restore command to restore the project.

I strongly recommend that you move your external exhibits separately: when you make the TMG backup file, do not include external exhibits. If you can, recreate on the new PC the exact exhibit folders on your old PC. If you cannot recreate the exact exhibit folder location(s), then you may have to use the Find and Replace command in TMG Utility to adjust the exhibit paths.

Do not start the Second Site install process until TMG is installed and you have verified that it is working properly.

You may download the install file for Second Site from the download page. Run the install file to install the program.

After Second Site is installed, copy your SDF file(s) and the associated Input (-i) folder(s) from your old PC to your new PC.

If you have defined a User Data Folder (UDF), then copy that folder from the old PC to the new PC. If you don't know what a UDF is, don't worry about it. If you have a UDF, when you run Second Site for the first time, and before you open your SDF file, tell Second Site the location of your UDF folder on the new PC via the File > Preferences > Set User Data Folder command.

The first time you run Second Site on the new PC, you will be prompted for your license information. Specify the exact values that were sent to you when you purchased your Second Site license. If you have changed your name or email address, do not specify the new values. You must use the information you provided at the time the license was issued.

Second Site on your new PC will have no "recently used files" history for your SDF files. To open your SDF file, use the File > Open command and then use the standard MS Windows methods to move to the folder that contains the file and open it.

After the SDF file is open, go to the Database section. If there is no path to a TMG project shown, that means that Second Site was unable to find your TMG project. That will happen if the path to the TMG project is different on the new PC compared to the old. Click the [Set Database...] button, navigate to the location of your TMG project, and open it. Then verify that the correct Tag Types are selected in the Database.Tags list.

After performing the steps, you should be able to use Second Site on the new PC.